Modern Greek/Lesson 07.2

= Lesson 7.2: Prepositions =

Prepositions are notoriously difficult, often not following any consistent rules, though in my experience Greek is one of the most consistent languages. This lesson is simply broken into two sections, a list of some common prepositions, and a section of dialogues and usage examples.

Usage Examples
If the preposition σε is followed by a definite article, the joint form στο(ν)/στη(ν)/στο (σε plus το(ν)/τη(ν)/το) is used:

As a remnant of ancient Greek's more complex case system, certain prepositions (πρό, εναντίον, εκ/εξ) are supposed to take the genitive case rather than the object (accusative) case. In these constructions, the genitive is really being used as the dative (indirect object) case, as in the use of the genitive with the verb αρέσω. This is a usage that is dying out, and a beginner doesn't need to worry about it too much. There are, however, certain fixed phrases that will seem inexplicable otherwise:

= Prepositions as Prefixes =

It is extremely common for Greek verbs to be formed by adding a preposition as a prefix to a simpler verb. However, the preposition may be in a different form than the ones given above, e.g., εις rather than σε. A common prefix is συν-/συμ-, from the ancient Greek preposition συν, with, together. Two other prefixes based on ancient Greek prepositions are δια, for, because of, relating to, and υπό, under (~"hypodermic").